Device for converting a stack of packets into a row of packets



Dec. 2. 1969 M. LE ROUX 3,481,508

DEVICE FOR CONVERTING A STACK OF PACKETS INTO A ROW OF PACKETS Filed Aug. 7, 1967 INVENT R Mad aux 5 at rag aak earrou km 0 R NEIS United States Patent 3,481,508 DEVICE FOR CONVERTING A STACK OF PACKETS INTO A ROW OF PACKETS Max Le Roux, Tonneins, France, assignor to Service dExploitation Industrielle des Tabacs et des Allumettes, Paris, France, a French public establishment Filed Aug. 7, 1967, Ser. No. 658,881 Claims priority, application France, Aug. 8, 1966,

4 Int. Cl. B65g 59/12;B65h N08 US. Cl. 221280 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The present invention concerns a device for converting into a row of packets a stack of packets which are continually delivered by a packaging-machine.

Certain packaging-machines have a feeding-device which is constructed in such a way that each manufactured packet is introduced into the bottom of a vartical chimney in which the preceding packets, lying on top of each other, gradually ascend thanks to the new packet which is pushed upwards into the chimney.

At the top of the chimney the packets can be extracted singly or in batches either manually by a pushbutton which transfers them laterally on a conveyor-unit or into the member of another machine.

The present invention proposes a new solution which, without any mechanical aid, transfers each packet of the stack to a row of packets on a conveyor-unit.

The principal characteristic of the present invention concerns the vertical chimney which is fed with packets that are introduced at the bottom, one beneath the other. The chimney is prolonged towards the top by a' duct whose curved surfaces fix a vein which expands to a necessary and sufficient degree, taking into account the width (horizontal section) of the packet, and obliges the packets to pivot progressively to a position corresponding substantially to the slope of an inclined plane joined to the internal curvature of the duct.

The curvatures have roughly corresponding radii and ice the lines which join their centres make, with the horizontal, an angle roughly corresponding to that of the slope of the inclined plane.

The attached design shows the embodiment of the said invention.

The curved duct 1 is a continuationof the vertical chimney 2. The outlet of the duct 1 is prolonged by an inclined plane 3. Curvature 4 has its centre in 5; curvature 6 has its centre in 7. In the example shown, their radii are equal and the line of their centre is parallel to plane 3.

The distance between the centres is determined by taking into account the dimensions of the packets. The inclination of the plane has two limits: a lower limit fixed by the minimal slope of the packets sliding on to each other; an upper limit which is the complement of the angle made by the larger base of the packet with the diagonal of its section.

The packets push each other successively towards the top and, thanks to the expansion of the vein which is maximal on the line of the centres, pivot progressively until they are in a plane substantially parallel to the inclined plane on to which they slide after having cleared the upper edge of the duct 1.

What is claimed is:

1. Device for converting into a row, a stack of hori-. zontally positioned packets, said device having a substantially vertical chimney, said packets fed one by one at the bottom of said chimney, said chimney having a cross-section corresponding to the shape of the upper and the lower faces of said packets; said device comprising at the top of said chimney a duct having curved side walls in prolongation of the lateral vertical walls of said chimney, and an inclined plane mounted at the upper end of said duct, said packets of said stack inserted one after the other at said bottom of said chimney and pushed upwards therein in a jerky movement arriving on said plane and slipping thereon into a row, one bebind the other.

2. Device according to claim 1, said curved side walls of said duct consisting of two lateral faces opposite one another, said faces formed by portions of cylinders of corresponding radii, the center lines of said cylinders being arranged in a plane substantially parallel to said inclined plane.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS ANDR'ES H. NIELSEN, Primary Examiner 

